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2009 in Review

Happy New Year everybody! Although we’ve been in 2010 for 2 weeks now, I still write 2009 every time I write the year. (Including when I just typed that sentence.) I have some awesome goals for 2010, but first I want to review my 2009 goals.

Save a down payment. FAIL. We started to save one, then had to use the cash to pay off some of the debt from my husband’s old company. Then we discovered we can’t sell our house and decided to focus on other goals. The down payment will be a big focus for 2010.

Open a 401(k) for my husband. SUCCESS! We opened the account in February and have about $9600 in it now. I’m excited to be saving for our future.

Pay off car loan #1. SUCCESS! In October we said sayonara to Car Loan #1. We then got so jazzed up by it that we paid off half of Car Loan #2!

Build the emergency fund to $10,000. FAIL. We have increased our emergency fund to $3100, which is much better than the $60 we had at the beginning of the year, but far short of the $10,000 we wanted. We are still contributing to this fund, but it’s not really a priority right now.

Prepare taxes by the end of February. FAIL. We filed at the last minute. Again. Maybe in 2010?

So 2009 was pretty good, but certainly not amazing. We made some progress and had a little fun along the way. Here’s to a new year!


4 Responses to “2009 in Review”

  1. Sharon Says:
    January 14th, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    I’d say 2009 was a success! I know when I have great savings goals, murphy comes along and takes all my hard work away. $3,100 is definitely better than $60.00 and $9,000 in a retirement fund for one year is awesome! Plus you paid off a car! Unless you are getting money back in taxes, what’s the rush? :)!

    Here’s to a great 2010!

  2. JvW Says:
    January 14th, 2010 at 9:21 pm

    Sharon - Thanks so much! You make me feel so good. The problem is we didn’t even process our taxes until last minute so we had to raid the savings account to pay them. Lame.

  3. William Herbert Says:
    January 15th, 2010 at 7:38 am

    There’s no need to rush your tax return before the end of February. It’s important to do it and check it over three times. And if you end up owing money, you don’t want to file until April 15.

  4. JvW Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    WH - I just wanted to prepare the tax return, not necessarily file it. That way I would know if/how much we owed and make sure we had the money to pay it.

    As we have an accountant do it (for complicated business reasons), I am confident that it is done correctly.

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